Jewish leader says anti-Semitism growing in Germany

November 29, 2017

FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2016 file photo Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, follows the ordination of three young Rabbis in the West-End Synagogue in Frankfurt, Germany. Schuster says that even though the country’s Jewish community is blossoming more than seven decades after the Holocaust, there’s reason for concern in the face of growing anti-Semitism on many different fronts. Josef Schuster said at a reception of the American Jewish Committee Jews in Germany were suffering from increased anti-Semitism by far right nationalists, Muslims immigrants and leftists. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP, file)

BERLIN (AP) — The head of Germany’s Central Council of Jews says that anti-Semitism is growing in the country, causing concern for a community that is otherwise blossoming more than seven decades after the Holocaust.

Josef Schuster said at a reception of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin on Wednesday that Jews in Germany fear the increased anti-Semitism of far right nationalists, Muslims immigrants and leftists, who often disguise their anti-Semitism as criticism of Israel.

Schuster said that in recent surverys,“90 percent of Jews perceive anti-Semitism as a very big problem and ... 70 percent avoid carrying any Jewish symbols in public.”

He also called out the nationalist Alternative for Germany, which he said tolerates Holocaust deniers in their party and does not distance itself clearly from anti-Semitic sentiment.